Parenthood, “I’m Cooler Than You Think” (2.03)

Last week’s episode, “I’m Cooler Than you Think” was, in my opinion, the first good episode this season. It’s been slow going for Parenthood, but this episode picks things up with some new story lines – although the downside to the overflow of new plots is that some seemed to come out of nowhere.

Something weird in this episode: no Baldwin. Sarah’s potential love interest, and her and Adam’s boss, was MIA. Instead, Sarah seems somewhat flirty with a new guy: a forklift guy who works in the warehouse of Sarah and Adam’s shoe company. From boss to warehouse forklift guy in one episode? Sarah, what are you doing? But, in her defense, forklift guy was pretty hot, and he’s in a band. How cool is that?

The whole idea behind the title of this week’s episode is that Sarah is trying to win back her daughter Amber. Yay, finally we have some Mae Whitman! Still no Miles Heizer, but give it time. Amber is friends with this cool, rich girl Kelsey, and of course Sarah worries that she’s not good enough and that she’s losing Amber forever. So she must act quickly and become cool. Good thing her new crush at work is in a band right? Yeah, it seemed kind of predictable, but it still worked.

Funny things in this episode: Kristina being overzealous (as per usual) in Haddie’s campaign for Junior president at school. Haddie doesn’t really seem to care about the campaign, but Kristina is so enthusiastic that it drives Haddie nuts, to the delight of the viewer. On a side note, I hate Kristina’s hair, I realize it’s been the same housewife ‘do forever, but something about it in this episode really bugged me.

No Jasmine in this episode, save for the Skyping. I wonder how long before she’s off the show… and I wonder how they’re going to explain her away seeing as she is kind of important character.

Maybe Baldwin will be back next week. He may be rich and have a good job, but Forklift’s got the looks.